


(i'm gonna make this place your) Home

by GaryTheFish



Series: Hope is a Four Letter Word [11]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Loki - Canon Divergence, Road Trips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-24
Updated: 2016-06-24
Packaged: 2018-07-18 00:36:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7292488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GaryTheFish/pseuds/GaryTheFish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Loki and Aeslin reach their destination at last and are met with a welcome party.</p>
            </blockquote>





	(i'm gonna make this place your) Home

**Author's Note:**

> (Author's note: Off-screen established fact: Pepper knows Loki's full situation. It was part of a conversation Tony and Pepper had when he told her what he wanted to do. She listened to Tony's story, found some holes, and wanted full disclosure (she's CEO of the company, after all), so with Loki's permission, Tony told her everything.)

Loki was relieved when they emerged on the other side of Los Angeles and into slightly quieter country. He was all for excitement and exploration, but that had been something else entirely. Aeslin had taken it in stride, but he didn’t miss the long breath she let out when the traffic had lightened a little.

“Would you mind texting Tony? We’ve only got another hour or so,” she told him. “It’s right on the ocean. Did he send you the address?”

He checked briefly, flicking through messages. “Yes. Hold on.” He pulled up the directions. “Do you want the GPS on yet?”

“That’s all right,” she told him. “You can navigate.” She gave him a smile. “I like your voice better anyways.”

***

Aeslin punched in the code at the gate, and they wound their way through the streets until, at Loki’s instruction, she parked at the curb. They stared at the townhouse for a moment.

“That’s company housing?” Loki finally asked.

She shook her head with a bit of a laugh. “It would appear so.”

Tony threw open the door as soon as Aeslin’s foot hit the bottom step, standing in the entryway with arms outstretched. “Welcome home!” he said, walking forward and enveloping her into a hug. “What do you think?”

“I think I should have applied years ago,” she said.

“Nah,” he said. “I would have put you over in the think tanks with the rest of my little squids back then. _This_ area is for my special guests. You know, board members, overpriced consultants, visiting dignitaries-” he broke off with an exaggerated wink at Loki, who gave him a long-suffering look. Tony answered with a grin, then went inside, his arm still around Aeslin’s shoulder. They were greeted further in by another man and a woman. The man stepped forward, hand outstretched.

“James Rhodes,” he said to Loki. “We spoke on the phone?”

“I remember,” Loki replied with a chuckle. “Good to put a face to the voice.” He turned to the woman.

“Welcome to Malibu,” she said. “I’m Virginia Potts. Everyone calls me Pepper, though.” Her grip was strong and sure.

Loki’s brow knit. “And is that all right? I mean, does that bother you?”

She gave him a curious look. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

Loki shrugged. “My brother once got exceptionally drunk during one of the harvest festivals when we were young. He ended up crowned in ivy and wed to a man made of ashwood and rose petals. I called him Dagmar Friggasdottir for almost half a century. Doesn’t mean he _liked_ it, and no one _else_ could call him that without guaranteeing themselves a visit to the healers. I just thought I’d make certain that I was everyone before I made any assumptions.”

"No," she said. "I don't mind the name at all. I'm actually quite fond of it." Pepper looked at Tony with her lip quirked a little. “Polite. Thoughtful. I like this one already. Good hire. _Almost_ makes up for the disaster you brought on last year.”

An innocent look from Tony. “Which one might that be?”

“The one I had to fire three months later after The Incident That Shall Not Be Named? The one you’re still paying for?”

“Right. That one.”

“I’m almost out of truffles, by the way.”

“Noted.” Stark led them through the house; Pepper and Rhodes followed behind Loki, chatting between themselves. Stark spoke over his shoulder to Loki with his arm still firmly around Aeslin. “Got you a present,” he said easily. “Picked it out myself, I’ll have you know.” They entered a large living room, and Stark gestured grandly to a long, deep couch scattered thickly with pillows and topped with a massive silver ribbon. At Loki’s confused look, he made an inviting sort of motion. “Go on,” he said. “Try it out.”

Loki pulled the bow off, placing it gently on a chair nearby, and sat down. He held out his arms a little. “And?”

“No, no, _no,_ ” said Tony. “You’re missing the point. Try it _out_. Lie down. ”

“Ah.” Loki toed off his shoes, then arranged the pillows and stretched out as far as he could. He wiggled his toes, noting that they were still a few inches from the other end of the couch. He looked at Tony with a half-smothered grin, and Stark held up his free hand, which Rhodes promptly smacked with one of his own, a wide grin on his face.

“You heard.”

Stark tried and failed to look abashed. “Well, Steve’s got a big mouth, and apparently you’re quite the dirty fighter when you’re tired and cranky. I thought I’d be a little proactive, that’s all.” He looked deliberately casual. “Just think of it as a gift. Merry Saturnalia, or whatever the hell it is you guys celebrate, from one breathtaking set of daddy issues to another.”

Loki sat up. “Thank you.”

A shrug. “Well, you know.” Stark pointed rapidly around the room as Loki put his shoes back on. “Coat closet. Veranda. Kitchen’s this way. Follow me, kids.”

***

Aeslin lay tucked between Loki’s side and the back of the couch; the sun poured in through the window above them, and they lay listening to the surf nearby.

“Master suite’s got its own bath,” she said, idly toying with the buttons on his shirt. “You wouldn’t have to go stumbling around at three in the morning. It’s all right there for you.”

“All the more reason you should have it.”

“It’s got a king bed, too. I wouldn’t take up a third of it. Just a waste of space, whereas you…”

“Nothing’s a waste where you’re concerned.”

“It’s got the best view of the ocean.”

His treacherous hand stopped tracing circles along her spine for the briefest of seconds, and he felt her grin against his chest.

“Fine,” he sighed, knowing he’d been caught. “We’ll flip for it.”

***

 _“You know,” he says, looking between her and the coins lined up neatly on the table, “probability states that I would lose at least one or two of the tosses. You’re not even_ trying _to be subtle about this.”_

_“It’s never really been one of my strong points,” she admits. “I thought for sure you’d have noticed that by now; I’m not exactly a mystery, after all.”_

_“You are,” he replies. “If nothing else, you’re a woman, and that’s mystery enough.”_

_She takes another quarter from her pocket, and he raises an eyebrow. “Really? Another round?”_

_A grin. “Well,” she says, rolling the coin through her fingers, “_ some _body’s got to unpack the car, right?”_

**Author's Note:**

> (Author's Note the Second: Not beta read. To be honest, I'm not SUPER happy with this one. I like it, but I don't love it like some of the others. I'm publishing it anyways because I had a rough day yesterday and was unable to write at all. It made me angry, so this morning I wrote this one to prove myself to myself. 
> 
> Suck it, depression. I did the thing.)
> 
> Title from "Home" by Phillip Phillips.


End file.
